Internet Acceptable Use Policy

Introduction  

United Telephone Association, United Communications Association, and United Wireless Association (heretofore referred to as “United”) has adopted this Acceptable Use Policy (“AUP”) to outline the acceptable use of United’s internet services (“Services”).  

All users of United’s Services including those who access some of our Services but do not have accounts (“Visitors”) and those who pay a monthly service fee to subscribe to the Services (“Members”) must comply with this AUP. Your failure to do so could result in the suspension or termination of either your access to the Services and/or your United account or other actions detailed in Section 3.  United reserves the right to revise, amend, or modify the AUP or other policies and agreements at any time and in any manner. Revisions, amendments, or modifications to this AUP are considered effective immediately and it is the end user’s responsibility to stay current. United can make changes to the AUP at any time without notice. Changes to this document will be available on United’s website. 

United may, but is not required to, monitor your compliance, or the compliance of other subscribers, with this Acceptable Use Policy. 

Prohibited Uses and Activities 

In general, this AUP prohibits uses and activities involving the Services that are illegal, infringe the rights of others, or interfere with or diminish the use of the Services by others.  

A. Inappropriate Content 

Users may not upload, download, post, email, distribute, publish, or otherwise transmit (collectively “Transmit”) any message, data, information, image, text, song, movie, or other material (collectively “Content”) that is unlawful, threatening, abusive, harassing, or destructive to third parties. 

Users may not Transmit Content that intentionally or unintentionally violates any applicable, known or unknown local, state, national, or international law. Users may not Transmit any material whatsoever pornographic in nature involving actual images of children or minors or digitally or otherwise artificially created or manipulated images of children or minors, or any material whatsoever that may be deemed obscene under applicable law. 

B. Abuse of Electronic Mail 

Users may not use the Services to Transmit any unsolicited commercial email or unsolicited bulk email. Activities that have the effect of facilitating unsolicited commercial email or unsolicited bulk email, whether that email is commercial in nature, are prohibited. 

C. Network Security/Integrity 

Users may not use the Services for any activity which adversely affects the ability of other people or systems to use United Services or the internet. This includes ‘Denial of Service” (DoS) attacks against another network host or individual user, port scanning, probes, data capture, and/or access of restricted systems. Interference with or disruption of other network users, network services, or network equipment is prohibited.  

It is the Member’s responsibility to ensure that their network is configured in a secure manner. A Member may not, through action or inaction, allow others to use their network for illegal or inappropriate actions. A Member may not permit their network, through action or inaction, to be configured in such a way that gives a third party the capability to use their network in an illegal or inappropriate manner. 

Users may not use the Services to introduce viruses, worms, harmful code, or Trojan horses onto the internet. 

D. Resale, Sharing, Distribution 

Users may not resell the Services without United’s authorization. Allowing others to connect to United’s Services through unauthorized access is prohibited. 

E. Forgery and Impersonation 

Users may not impersonate or falsely state or otherwise misrepresent their affiliation with any person or entity, including, but not limited to, an employee or officer of United. Forging headers or otherwise manipulating identifiers in order to disguise the origin of any content transmitted through United is prohibited. 

F. Fraudulent Activity 

Users may not use the Services to make fraudulent offers to sell or buy products, items, or services or to advance any type of financial scam such as pyramid schemes, Ponzi schemes, or chain letters. 

G. Unauthorized Access 

Users may not use the Services to access, or attempt to access, the accounts of others, or to penetrate, or attempt to penetrate, security measures of United’s or another entity’s computer software or hardware, electronic communications systems, or telecommunications system, whether the intrusion results in the corruption or loss of data. 

H. Collection of Personal Data 

Users may not use the Services to collect, or attempt to collect, personal information about third parties without their knowledge or consent.  

I. Infringement of Intellectual Property Rights 

United does not permit users to Transmit any Content that infringes any copyright, trademark, patent, trade secret, or other proprietary rights of any third party, including, but not limited to, the unauthorized copying of copyrighted material, the digitization and distribution of photographs from magazines, books, or other copyrighted sources, and the unauthorized transmittal of copyrighted software. 

Violations and Monitoring 

United requests that anyone who believes that there is a violation of this AUP direct the information to abuse@unitedtelcom.net. 

If available, please provide the following information: 

A. The IP Address used to commit the alleged violation 

B. The date and time of alleged violation, including the time zone or offset from GMT 

C. Evidence of the alleged allegation 

Syslog files and emails with full header information are ideal for providing all the above information.  

United may take any one or more of the following actions in response to complaints: 

A. Issue written or verbal warnings 

B. Suspend the Member’s account 

C. Terminate the Member’s account 

D. Bill the Member for administrative costs and/or reactivation charges 

E. Bring legal action to enjoin violations and/or collect damages, if any, caused by violations 

United does not intend to actively monitor the content of web sites, email, newsgroups, or material created or accessible over its Services. United reserves the right to monitor such Services or any Services on or within our network.